Papers by Laurence Iannaccone
The American Economic Review, 1996
A fundamental debate has surfaced within the social-scientific study of religion. Though fueled b... more A fundamental debate has surfaced within the social-scientific study of religion. Though fueled by new, economic models of religious behavior, the debate finds its origins in a growing body of empirical findings. These findings challenge the received wisdom that religious beliefs and behavior are grounded in primitive, pre-scientific, and non-rational thinking. The distorting force of the received wisdom is underscored by the body of “stylized facts” that it has spawned. For example: (1) religion must inevitably decline as science and technology advance; (2) individuals become less religious and more skeptical of faith-based claims as they acquire more education, particularly more familiarity with science; and (3) membership in deviant religions is usually the consequence of indoctrination (leading to aberrant values) or abnormal psychology (due to trauma, neurosis, or unmet needs). Nearly all educated people “know” these statements to be true, even though decades of research have p...
... In the case of suicide bombing, however, demand has received vastly less attention than suppl... more ... In the case of suicide bombing, however, demand has received vastly less attention than supply, and market structure has received almost no ... or just plain crazy, (b) power-hungry lusting for authority, admiration, and fame, (c) avaricious craving luxury, wealth, or sex; or (d ...
Journal of Economic Literature, Feb 1, 1998
The study of religion has enjoyed salience and legitimacy within sociology, psychology, anthropol... more The study of religion has enjoyed salience and legitimacy within sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, and (to a lesser extent) political science for many decades. Journals that specialize in the social-scientific study of religion include the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Sociology of Religion (formerly called Sociological Analysis), the Review of Religious Research, Social Compass, and the Journal of Church and State. 3 The survey is not exhaustive. Readers are welcome to write to me for a more complete listing of articles on the economics of religion: LIANNAC
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Politics and Education, 1983
Oxford Handbooks Online, 2011
Of all the things that sustain formal religious institutions, none is more essential than materia... more Of all the things that sustain formal religious institutions, none is more essential than material support. Without adequate income, congregations fold, denominations fail, and the faithful flock to greener pastures. Nor is any facet of religious commitment more concrete and quantifiable. Faced with skepticism about the accuracy and consistency of attendance and membership rates reported by individuals or institutions, the obvious alternative is to follow the money. Strange as it may seem, the economics of religion has yet to pay much attention to financial matters. The basic argument of this article, which suggests some first steps toward a general theory of religious finance, rests on a series of observations concerning the impact of government, production, religious beliefs, and religious competition. The article also applies the outlined principles across many different times, places, and traditions, including modern Europe, nineteenth-century Christian America, American Judaism...
Social Forces, 1995
706 / Sodai Forces 74:2, December 1995 model in which "inputs" of time and money combin... more 706 / Sodai Forces 74:2, December 1995 model in which "inputs" of time and money combine to "produce" new members. Growth statistics, both within and across denominations, demonstrate the empirical power of this approach. Although growth remains the central concern, we ...
Social Forces, 1990
Page 1. Dealing with Social Change: The Mormon Chui h's Response to Change in Women&... more Page 1. Dealing with Social Change: The Mormon Chui h's Response to Change in Women's Roles* LAURENCE R IANNACCONE, Santa Clara University CARRIE A. MILES Abstract This article develops a rational-choice model ...
Rationality and Society, 1992
Public Choice, 2014
ABSTRACT Retrospective questions from recent surveys let us estimate rates of church attendance a... more ABSTRACT Retrospective questions from recent surveys let us estimate rates of church attendance among children and their parents in ten Western democracies throughout most of the 20th century. We combine these time series with standard sources to test competing theories of religious change. Although our attendance estimates affirm the prevalence of religious decline, our statistical tests offer no support for traditional theories of secularization (which link decline to changes in income, education, industrialization, urbanization, and family life). Nor can we attribute much of the observed decline to growth in the welfare state. But increased school spending by governments does reduce church attendance, and this effect is not the result of greater educational attainment. In shaping the content of schooling, governments may strongly influence long-run religious trends.
Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 1989
Abstract This paper extends Granovetter and Soong's work on bandwagons by introducing interpe... more Abstract This paper extends Granovetter and Soong's work on bandwagons by introducing interpersonal effects at the level of preferences rather than at the level of demand. It is found that markets generally will not follow the first-order difference equations analyzed by G-S, because consumers will form expectations based on the market's entire history rather than the last period alone. When those expectations are adaptive and the rate of expectations adjustment sufficiently low, the threat of unstable and chaotic dynamics is eliminated. The paper also describes the efficiency problems generated by interpersonal effects.
Journal of Contemporary Religion, 1997
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Papers by Laurence Iannaccone